When the tests originally started, Ghost had no problem. He listened to the mechanical voice, finished the tests, and then went to the next. None of them were really challenging, but as he went on, Ghost noticed a change of character in the voice on the speakers. He was running through a test when he walked into what he thought was the chamber lock, but instead was met with an empty room with a glass ceiling. Everything around him was always white and the walls were slightly harder than they looked. Almost all the tests before this was near spotless save for a few dirty spots here and there.

" mmmmm... I would say you are doing a nice job, but then I would be complementing an overindulged pig." The voice said over the speakers. Ghost's head jerked up. He didn't normally receive insults from the computer. Though she never said nice things either. It was like hearing a passive aggressive mother going on a tangent that made him seem like he was the villain. He shook it off and ignored it for now and shot a blue portal under him and slammed against the glass.

"Just going to ignore me? I know ghosts don't typically talk, but you don't even seem offended. You can comprehend speech, correct?" The voice said. Ghost stopped. Now he knew a few things about his situation he was so grandly introduced to. The computer that spoke was sentient. If it wasn't, it would have played some cruddy recording telling him to insert his name and hometown. The computer also knew his name. It wasn't his birth name, no. He didn't even know that. Everyone just called him by Ghost. He suspected it was because he could be very sneaky. One of his fondest memories was when he was sitting at a table with his family circling around it. He had crawled under the table and when people weren't looking, he would steal the pepperoni off there pizza. No one in his family ever realy minded him, and often interrupted when he decided he wanted to add to the conversation. Finally, when one person in high school asked his name after being startled, not knowing the boy was behind him, he just replied "ghost". The kid laughed and said it was fitting. From then on it stuck.

Ghost was extravagantly tall for his age, which he forgot. He was a six foot six giant. Tall as he was, he was exceedingly scrawny. However, cryogenic sleep had not toned down his muscles too much. Which was fortunate because those weighted storage cubes were exceedingly heavy. Of course, the computer had some smart ass comment to make to him basically saying if he couldn't lift it to wait for a "true man" to come and help. Well, that's not exactly what she said, but it's what she meant. Probably. Ghost looked up at the camera.

"Who are you?" He asked the computer.

"Proceed to the chamber lock." The automated voice said. So much for trying to start up a conversation. She just went right back to automated voice messages. Ghost did as he was told and entered the elevator. The doors shut as they usually did, but this time, instead of going up with the now familiar feeling of going up, he received the opposite. In fact, the feeling was so intense he was sure he was going to start to levitate. The padded walls of the elevator felt as if they were slowly collapsing in on him. He was startled, yet had no sense of urgency. Sure this changed from his usual endeavors, but in this facility, there was never really any place where you could feel like you're not heading to your imminent doom.

Finally the elevator slowed down and ghost was flung to the ground. Standing up, the doors opened and Ghost stepped out on what seemed to be a rusty cylindrical grating. The area was wide and indeed very open. The walls spread out beyond him so far that he could no longer see them. It seemed that no matter where he was in the facility, there was always a sense of daytime as the air that surrounded the gigantic isolated rectangle of a building that was suspended high in the air above what appeared to be a bunch of old testing tracks always seemed illuminated. Portal gun still in hand, he walked on.

"Where are you? What happened?" the computer spoke. Apparently, he was isolated enough to be out of her reach, but close enough to still hear. Never the less, Ghost was undeterred as the very confused computer called out for her missing test subject. It was almost as if she felt alone. Didn't she have a bunch of other test subjects that she could be watching? Why did she have to specifically watch him? Deep down Ghost knew that he was different. Not necessarily in the good way either. Sure he was exceedingly smart, but he was also very lazy. In fact, that computer that was obsessed with testing probably gave him back a few extra years of his life. He wasn't getting "bigger" by any standards and he ate healthy. Yet regular exercises didn't fit with a teenage lifestyle. Although, he wasn't sure how old he was anymore.

He got to the door of the giant rectangular structure and opened it. When he stepped inside, he saw a lot of desks strewn about and toppled over. A few stray computer parts were scattered here and there, but the only thing that really seemed to be present in this place was paper. Lots and lots of paper. There were even a few things that were as thick as a phone book. Looking around he found a rather interesting trail of cleanliness. Following through the building he came to another set of desks. The trail went on for a while until he eventually came to a room that was instead filled with cubicles. The trail continued for a short while until he came across a small cubicle that was out of the way. But instead of the usual disheveled mess, this one was clean.

There were several small posters with the aperture logo and some overly weird phrase. The desk area was very tidy and seemingly well used. There were a few filing cabinets and doors to match. A lot was actual wood instead of the aperture issued metal. Papers littered the floor and a few open cans of beans were on the ground. Then the cubicle was dimmed. For the first time since he entered the cubicle, he realized that the computer was on. It at first lit up the entire room well, but it had dimmed due to inactivity. Ghost didn't take long to figure out someone had been there, but who, he did not know. Sitting down and noticing that the seat was still warm was both relaxing and frightening. Looking upon the computer screen, he noticed a bunch of coding and an image of the elevator design. Taking that as a possible coincidence, he flicked to the other tabs that were open. The first tab was a profiled picture of a woman who looked both familiar and not at the same time. She was so eerie in the photo that even Ghost shivered. He looked at the name.

Chell Johnson. Even though Johnson was a well-used last name, it struck him as odd that she shared his last name. Intrigued, he scrolled down to look at the info presented. There were listings for age, weight, height, sexual preference, mental state, and family. Looking where his suspicions led, under family where a list of names were presented. There weren't many that he read that didn't spark his interests. Finally, at the end of the list he found exactly what he suspected. His name. The link was highlighted, indicating that whoever's desk he was sitting at had taken an interest in his name. under all the rest of information was a page of information that held the basics of her habits. Skimming through, it appeared as though his relative was extravagantly stubborn. He hit print and found that his file was already pulled up as the third tab.

The page depicted many things that he had found odd. Under a lot of things that were depicted in Chell's file, all he found were question marks. His age and sexual preference were unknown, but thinking it over, he realized he had almost no data to go on when deciding his overall preference. All he really knew was that most humans were pretty weird. His height and weight was pretty much accurate but what enticed him the most was the mental state listing. Under Chell's listing, hers was 'overly stubborn'. Under his it said 'overactive genius who has a psychotic undertone'. Of course, this didn't really affect him as much, and his description was left blank. Subtracting out of the server, the desk top was entirely empty.

Deciding that this was the most optimal time, he rummaged through the desk doors and filing cabinets. Most of them were filled with what seemed like canned beans, but while scrapping off the top of the tidy desk, his hand rubbed up against what appeared to be a set of numbers on a wheel. The numbers were already set into place and he pushed the dial down to hear a low click. Under the desk, something had fallen out of its placement. Looking down, Ghost saw a small notebook that was titled 'GLaDOS'. Picking it up and dusting it off he already saw the aperture logo on the cover. The notebook itself was orange and looked rather well used.

Ghost was startled out of his thoughts as a low ping could be heard throughout the cubicle. His heart jumped and he looked up to see a new chat box had opened itself up on the monitor. At the top of the bar the person who had just contacted the desk owner was clear as day. GLaDOS had somehow found him in her facility.

'Guess who' appeared at the top of the screen. Ghost looked on in astonishment. The bar was already blinking in the typing space, awaiting an answer. Quickly thinking, he typed slowly with purpose.

'What do you want with me?' he typed. The answer was instantaneous, as if her thoughts were being instantly projected to him.

'I need to conduct science with you. I take it you've seen your file? I can't simply leave a glitch in my system now can I?' She responded. Ghost, assuming that this conversation was going moderately well, decided to continue the questioning, trying to be polite and as preemptively understanding as he could be.

'To be perfectly honest, I can't even fill in the blanks. But I'd be more than happy to do my best to answer your questions from here.' The response was simply to try and skip some of the tests she probably already had lined up. Unlike last time, GLaDOS was obviously thinking it over.

'What makes you think that I will give you the luxury? Most of the people I have tested on have not done the same. The only reason I'm contacting you this way is to stall.' She replied. Obviously, she was trying to pull at his strings and was doing so flawlessly. Well, almost. Thinking it through, GLaDOS probably expected him to ask why she was stalling, only for her to show him seconds later, giving him little time to react. Deciding the best way to know was to ignore her last comment entirely and instead change the topic quickly.

'Why do you seem so desperate to get me back on your radar?' both a legitimate question and hopefully distracting to the super computer.

'Why do you seem desperate to get me off track? Aren't you the least bit curious as to how I am going to foil your brilliant plan?' she asked

'What plan? I didn't plan this. The elevator took me here without my consent.' This obviously struck a chord. How and why he didn't know. She took her time with the next new set of lines.

'What is your current desk number?' she asked. Weird question, but never the less he looked at the corner of the cubicle and the saw the metallic shine.

'Cubicle G3F2C32. Why?' he asked curiously. His answer came again in a plain and simple phrase that chilled him to the bone.

'Get out of ground 3.' Still confused, he replied again.

'Why?' he asked

'Because I can only handle two phsycos if one of them is dead. You occupy a cubicle that is owned by one Doug Rattman. One body I didn't find when I took over the facilit-' her sentence was cut mid-sentence and the computer started to glitch until it was buzzing like a TV with no reception. Taking this as his sign to leave, he grabbed Chell's file and stood. He turned around and made eye contact with a pair of eyes peeking over the side of the cubicle. The only part that was visible was his eyes that looked warn and tired, yet extremely full of energy and a very messy head of hair. Ghost fell back and scrambled for the portal gun he set on the desk. Getting a firm grip he turned back around only to hear that of someone quickly running across what sounded like paper Mache. Running out he saw what appeared to be a weighted storage cube with a heart on the sides sitting next to a random cubicle. Deciding that the apparent phsyco had left the room running, he stepped cautiously up to the box. He reached out and his hand was abruptly stopped. Looking down, he found an extravagantly strong grip of a hand. Looking up he met the same eyes that were peering at him just moments before. The man looked like he had been homeless in hell for eight years. He wore an aperture shirt with a long white lab coat that was littered with holes. His jeans weren't far better than his coat, being caked with dirt and littered with holes.

Extremely startled, he looked at the man who was shaking violently with the most intense look plastered on his face. His lips moved but no sound came out. Even though the man didn't make a sound, the word he said was rather easy to read. Ghost.

The man let go, picked up the cube as if it were as light as the paper that littered the ground, turned around and took his leave still trembling. Still clutching Chell's file, he decided to take the old man's lead and promptly exited the building and found a new elevator awaiting him. Upon entering GLaDOS contacted through the intercom.

"I see you are alive. How… fortunate. Well, on the bright side I have a test subject that can guarantee different results. You better not disappoint me, or ill make you wish you could die." She said as the elevator rose on its system. Even through all the chaos that presented itself, Ghost still found it in himself to start planning an escape route. It wasn't simple, and after getting off the grid he would have no way of knowing where to go. Not to mention the fact that it was all based off of a theory.

*time skip*

It had been a couple days after the incident with the strange man whom GLaDOS had called Doug. Sure the incident left a wrinkle in his mind, but as he passed through all the tests he had come fond of the only thing that seemed to talk to him. That, and whenever he talked, she replied to him. Sure, she still wasn't nice, but she wasn't exactly mean either. That and after every step his plan felt more solid as he went along. Finally, the time had come.

He finished the test he was currently on, ignored GLaDOS's overly complicated sarcastic 'compliment' and entered the elevator. This was one of the few chances that Ghost had to read up on the notebook he found in the desk. It was filled with extremely complex calculations that ranged from advanced calculous to a basic understanding of chemistry along with logs of when they were building the super computer. The doors opened and Ghost stepped out, slipped his long fall boot of, set it were the door would close, and walked up to the door. He waited a second, and tossed an empty can of beans across the floor. Food was a luxury when GLaDOS gave it, but one of the emancipation grills was shot and didn't work. The sensors caught the motion and the doors closed as the test began. The camera zoomed in on the can, and the plan was set in motion as he made eye contact with the camera as the door closed. Ghost sprinted over and forced the doors to the elevator open and slipped his long fall boot on. Over his shoulder he heard steam from the door frame and heard GLaDOS speaking.

"What are you doing? I-i-i-i-i-i…" he heard her glitch wildly and make noises impossible for him to decipher. He looked into the elevator and stomped with his left foot on the outer ring. To his pride, the elevator moved at the same velocity as his stomp, forcing it downward. It wasn't hard to figure out. The elevator moved without vibration and always at a constant velocity which only led Ghost to believe that the elevator moved on a superconductor system, meaning that the side of the chamber was cooled enough to sustain liquid nitrogen, using magnets to quantum lock the elevator into a constant movement until the electromagnetic radiation told it otherwise. Meaning, he could literally kick it away with minimum effort. As long as the radiation told it that it could. But just as he kicked it down, it came back up at a high pace. GLaDOS had obviously summoned it back. But before it could arrive again, he jumped on to the top, closing him off in the tube. Seeing no portal surfaces, he used the lip of the tube to slowly haul himself up.

Around an hour later of climbing, he found a management catwalk. Flinging himself onto it he laid there and passed out. After an intangible amount of time, he stood again, only to fall. It seemed climbing for longer than he could had left him feeling sore. His eyes blurred, yet he extended his arm again. Placing his hand on the ground, he tried to stand and somehow made it to his feet. He had ripped part of his shirt and tied the portal gun to his back. The cloth was wearing thin and his resolve was slipping. He hunched over and his arms dangled at his sides. He trudged slowly, already breathing hard. Looking up slightly, he noticed the trail turned right. After turning, he was faced with a door with the heading above the door 'control room'. Opening the door, he was met with a short corridor that had a left turn and a right turn. Closing the door behind him he heard a click. Turning, he noticed the keypad on the door. Stepping ahead of the left turn that had a door, he took a few steps and noticed windows. Through the window was a tall cylindrical structure that had a lone entrance tube. Deciding that that was the way to go, Ghost walked diligently towards the tube. He walked down the hall to hear what appeared to be incessant mumbling, an occasional yell, and an explosion or two.

Grabbing his portal gun off his back, he turned the corner to the most startling thing he had ever experienced.

"congratulations. I hope you're happy. But the only thing you've managed to do is break my heart." It took a second to process that the large robotic jumble dangling from the ceiling was actually talking to Ghost, and was in fact ignoring the girl who just shot a missile at her, using the robot on the floor. It didn't take long for the missile to hit its target. A small sphere popped off the body of the giant computer. GLaDOS fell limp. The girl, noticing the laser didn't immediately try and hone in on her looked over as she dropped the sphere into the incinerator. Now noticing that there was someone else in the room, she stopped and gapped at him. Ghost looked at her and raised up the file he had of Chell. This was her.

"Ghost!" she shouted, already seeing the laser start to flash. He stood there stunned, oblivious to the fact that he was currently a target. He noticed too late as the missile had already been sent on its way. He looked forward, seeing the missile forebodingly fly at him dead center. Everything slowed after that. Being too sore to move, he couldn't do a thing. There was a flash, a sensation of falling, and he hit the floor, his vision blurred and he was slightly aware of the ceiling expelling outward, gas leaving the chamber, and being lifted into the air.

He awoke with a start and was blinded by the sun. Turning his head to the left he looked at his sibling who jolted awake and looked him in the eye. She smiled at him before she was grabbed by a robot and was slowly dragged away. Over to the left he saw Doug, still clutching his faithful cube. Looking him in the eye Ghost mouthed one word to the man before he collapsed.

'Please'